When the Pearl Brewing Company closed in 2001, it marked the end of a spirited era in the Alamo City. At its peak, the 23-acre complex a mile north of downtown employed a quarter of San Antonio’s population. But 118 years after its debut, the rush of beer flowing from Texas’ largest brewery was reduced to just the trickle of the adjacent San Antonio River.
While plans quickly took shape to transform the complex into The Pearl, a cultural and economic end cap for the River Walk, that vision wasn’t fully realized until about 2013, seven years after the first commercial tenant moved in. “The first few years almost killed me,” says Marla Ross, who moved her then- 35-year-old “pueblo chic” clothing shop, Adelante Boutique, to Pearl in 2010 because she was enticed by the area’s promise. “It wasn’t until more restaurants started opening that the area’s cool factor finally reached the masses.”
Anchored by the Culinary Institute of America’s third US campus, The Pearl’s restaurant scene exploded. Adventurous concepts, like The Boiler House, and Botika, a Chinese-Peruvian and Japanese-Peruvian lounge/restaurant, married the complex’s historic limestone brickwork with modern tastes. Casual eateries, like heralded taqueria La Gloria, which bookend The Pearl, brought gourmet food at wallet-friendly prices. The foodie buzz pulled in more stores and visitors, who flocked to The Pearl for events, like the twice-weekly farmers’ market.
Today, The Pearl features over two dozen restaurants and bars, 13 locally owned shops, more than 300 apartments, and eight commercial offices. Here are some standouts that give Pearl a distinctly local cultural flavor.
KNOWN FOR
Its history as a brewery and presently as a culinary destination with a strong mix of shopping, residential, and commercial offerings.
DON’T VISIT WITHOUT
Exploring Pearl’s repurposed structures, like the Boiler House, a restaurant whose kitchen is prominently located in two of the original brewery’s boilers.
WITHIN REACH
The heart of the city’s famed River Walk (and Hotel Valencia Riverwalk) is minutes away by water taxi through a museum-lined stretch of the San Antonio River.
